The constitution was to be revised by this Assembly.  Nobody cared much about the constitution, which had not had time to acquire any hold on the affections of the people, and Louis Napoleon had recently acquired popularity with the turbulent part of the population of Paris by opposing a measure calculated to restrict universal suffrage, and to prevent tramps, aliens, and ex-convicts from voting at elections.  The prince president, who wanted, for his own purposes, as large a popular vote as possible, was opposed to any restrictions on the suffrage.

Such was the condition of things on Nov. 26, 1851, when Louis Napoleon summoned the principal generals and colonels of the troops in and around Paris to meet him at the Elysee.  At this meeting they all swore to support the president if called upon to do so, and never to tell of this engagement.  They kept the secret for five years.

Meantime the Assembly on its part was hatching a conspiracy to overturn the president and send him to a dungeon at Vincennes; while all who refused to support its authority were to be declared guilty of treason.

The three men called the generals of the Army of Africa,—­namely, Cavaignac, Changarnier, and Lamoriciere,—­were opposed to the prince president.  They were either Republicans or Orleanists.

Thus the crisis approached.  Each party was ready to spring upon the other.  Again France was to experience a political convulsion, and the party that moved first would gain the day.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COUP D’ETAT.

“In voting for Louis Napoleon,” says Alison, “the French rural population understood that it was voting for an emperor and for the repression of the clubs in Paris.  It seemed to Frenchmen in the country that they had only a choice between Jacobin rule by the clubs, or Napoleonic rule by an emperor.”  So, though Louis Napoleon, when he presented himself as a presidential candidate, assured the electors, “I am not so ambitious as to dream of empire, of war, nor of subversive theories; educated in free countries and in the school of misfortune, I shall always remain faithful to the duties that your suffrages impose on me,” public sentiment abroad and at home, whether hostile or favorable, expected that he would before long make himself virtually, if not in name, the Emperor Napoleon.  Indeed, the army was encouraged by its officers to shout, “Vive l’empereur!” and “Vive Napoleon!” And General Changarnier, for disapproving of these demonstrations, had been dismissed from his post as military commander at the capital.  He was forthwith, as we have seen, appointed to a military command in the confidence of the Assembly.

By the autumn of 1851 Louis Napoleon had fully made up his mind as to his coup d’etat, and had arranged all its details.  He had five intimates, who were his counsellors,—­De Morny, De Maupas, De Persigny, Fleury, and General Saint-Arnaud.